Joseph’s Home Featured in the 2015 Good News Giving Series

First published on Cleveland.com

Homeless outreach part of Joseph’s Home, West Side Catholic Center, Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry: Good News Giving

Good New Giving: Joseph's Home
David Henderson, 53, of Cleveland, is grateful for Joseph’s Home, in background, which helped him get back on his feet after being homeless. Henderson had lost his business, home and family and found himself homeless after an illness. He lived at Joseph’s Home for six months. Joseph’s Home helped him get back on his feet and find a home. Henderson volunteers at the shelter and is now up for a position on the Joseph’s Home board. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer) (Lisa DeJong)

on December 12, 2015 at 7:30 AM, updated December 14, 2015 at 6:57 AM

Cleveland resident David Jones’ perspective on homelessness is like few others. He had a good job as an IT professional at a homeless shelter, never thinking he one day would be on the receiving end of an agency’s mission.

But one day in 2013, he woke up in a hospital bed following a serious stroke. Complications, including total renal failure, led to him losing his job and his home. He needed help. He found it at Joseph’s Home in Cleveland.

“As a person on the other side, I really do get it,” he said. “I’m grateful for the whole process.”

That process isn’t as simple as providing shelter, meals or blankets. It requires a network of agencies and their relentless workers and volunteers to tackle the many issues involved in such a complicated and vital issue.

Three Cleveland non-profits — Joseph’s Home, West Side Catholic Center and Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry — include homelessness in their missions. Their approaches are both varied and effective.

They are among 25 area agencies being supported in the third annual Good News Giving campaign, sponsored by The Plain Dealer and Northeast Ohio Media Group. The campaign will feature stories about these agencies during the holiday season, offer a means for donating to them, and provide them with free advertising in The Plain Dealer and Sun News, and on cleveland.com.

Information about these agencies, plus a link to their websites, is posted on the Good News Giving website: cleveland.com/goodnewsgiving. The site features the logo of each agency, a description of its mission and the means of making a donation.

Joseph’s Home

Dialysis three days a week took a toll on Jones. He had to quit his job. He became depressed and did not take good care of his health, which declined further. He lost his apartment and found himself in a group home, which referred him to Joseph’s Home. Staff there helped him stabilize his health and find an apartment he can afford on a fixed income that now includes Social Security benefits. He lives on the West Side, within walking distance of Edgewater Park, which he visits frequently. He just paid his first month’s rent.

“It felt great. I have my own place again,” said Jones, 53. “I have a new chapter, a new adventure.”

Founded in 2000 by the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, Joseph’s Home seeks to meet the needs of single homeless men who are ill or have been recently discharged from a care facility and have no place to go and recover. The home-like facility next to Cuyahoga Community College’s Metro Campus fills a critical gap for men such as Jones.

“Joseph’s Home provides a place for homeless individuals whose level of care need is below that of a nursing home or hospital, but makes them a poor fit for a homeless shelter,” said Nathan Munn, director of development. “In many situations, to be on the street or in a shelter increases the risk of health complications and makes them more vulnerable.”

David Henderson led what he called a “lucrative life,” with a home health care business that counted among its clients former Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien. The business collapsed during the recession, and his marriage and health soon followed. He lost his home and was going from relative to relative, then to shelters, as his health worsened. After six months at Joseph’s Home, his diabetes and other issues were stabilized. He transitioned to an apartment in Hough, where he lives today.

Henderson is paying it forward, serving as an advisor at Joseph’s Home and is being considered for a position on its board. He is the facility’s enthusiastic ambassador, and said Joseph’s Home did more than repair his life. Since his stay, he said he has mended relationships with his eight children.

“Joseph’s Home doesn’t just heal the individual, it permeates throughout the whole family,” he said.

Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry

Angelo Jessup was a rebellious 11-year-old, living in poverty and struggling to build relationships outside the family, when he first encountered Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry.

Fourteen years later, he’s still there, working with kids in similar situations. Talking about his life at LMM, Jessup sounds confident. It seems like a natural fit. But he said each step came with growing pains, and LMM staff was there for him throughout.

As a kid, he attended LMM’s After School Prevention Resources (ASPR) program. LMM staff drew him out and formed bonds. He quit school and left town, but when he came back to Cleveland, LMM welcomed him and guided him toward a GED.

He was asked to join the first Teen Advisory Group. He helped launch a Q-Team, which conducted program quality assessments. He became the team’s coordinator while attending Tri-C. He was dogged by a fear of failure, and each advancement required him to grow in ways he didn’t think he was capable of.

Recently, he was hired by LMM as the ASPR assistant director and helps oversee the programs that guided his early life. He loves working with the kids at LMM. He’s such a part of LMM’s fabric, the kids tease him for being there “for like 30 years.”

“I tell them I was the same little guy you was,” he said. “Now, although they respect me as an authority figure, they also appreciate me as a big brother.”

ASPR is just one of LMM’s many missions. It was established in response to the urban unrest of the 1960’s, specifically the upheaval in Hough. Its outreach includes, as well as at-risk youth, people who are or have been in legal trouble, or who are dealing with long-term care needs, and the homeless.

LMM helped nearly 9,000 people last year, according to Development Director Megan Crow Brauer. LMM runs a homeless shelter and its kitchen prepared 431,800 meals for the homeless and poor throughout the city.

“We inhabit an intersection where great needs meet bold solutions,” said Crow Brauer.

Workforce development and counseling are priorities, and Brauer pointed to a recent success story in Sarah Reed, who had trouble finding a job after being incarcerated. LMM accepted her into a culinary arts program and she worked at LMM’s Blazing Bistro, a food truck-style restaurant in a shipping container behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The successful bistro will be relocated downtown in the spring with Reed and other LMM-trained chefs.

West Side Catholic Center

Chanel was a homeless Navy veteran with two daughters and an infant son. She had been working as a medical assistant in another city, but lost her job and moved to Cleveland to be close to her husband’s family. Domestic issues forced her to the streets, and the Veterans Administration connected her with the West Side Catholic Center and its women’s and children’s shelter.

Chanel said she felt helpless and scared, and worried she had let her kids down, but quickly felt at home at the shelter. It allowed her to pause her life and set a new direction. While at the shelter, the family received medical care and children’s programming.

Chanel wanted to work. WSCC helped her find a job and a home with a yard for her kids on the East Side. She said she feels like she’s “back on a horse.”

WSCC offers hot meals, hospitality, clothing and household goods, emergency services, advocacy, the women and children’s shelter, and a housing solutions program to those in need at no charge, regardless of religious affiliation. Founded in 1977, WSCC’s web site describes it as “a unique, private, not-for-profit agency with Catholic roots, independent of the Catholic Diocese and Catholic Charities.”

Some of the daily critical needs it addresses include food and medication, heat and water, homelessness and providing help with job searches and transportation.

Maurice came there in 2013 looking for a meal. He was homeless and had been in and out of jail a half-dozen times for selling drugs.

He found more than short-term nourishment at WSCC. He soaked up lessons in creative writing, interviewing, professionalism, resume writing and employment skills. He gained work experience through job placements. He has been a featured writer by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and at the Expressive Arts Project showcase.

Maurice said WSCC changed the way he thought about life, and it changed the scope of his life.

Joseph’s Home is located at 2412 Community College Ave., Cleveland 44115.

Phone: 216-685-1551.

Email: [email protected].

Website: josephshome.com.

The mission of Josephs Home is to empower men experiencing homelessness and acute illness to heal in a nurturing faith-based environment and achieve independence.

Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry is located in The Richard Sering Center, 4515 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44103.

Phone: 216-696-2715.

Email: [email protected].

Website: lutheranmetro.org.

Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry serves with people who are oppressed, forgotten and hurting, through a Christian ministry of service and advocacy, to overcome barriers, obtain job skills, gain employment, locate stable housing, access counseling and support services, stay out of prison, secure second chances and become self-sufficient, productive members of our community.

West Side Catholic Center is located at 3135 Lorain Ave., Cleveland 44113.

Phone: 216-631-474

Website: wsccenter.org.

The West Side Catholic Center since 1977 has offered hot meals, hospitality, clothing and household goods, emergency services, advocacy, a women and children’s shelter and a housing solutions program to those in need at no charge, regardless of religious affiliation.

Sisters of Charity Health System Announces New Executive Director for Joseph’s Home

11/22/2015

CLEVELAND – November 22, 2015: The boards and leadership of the Sisters of Charity Health System and Joseph’s Home have named Christine Horne as the next executive director of Joseph’s Home.

A ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System, Joseph’s Home provides a nurturing, caring environment for homeless men with serious medical needs, helping them heal and achieve independence. Joseph’s Home also coordinates services from local partners to meet the needs of each resident as he works to become self sufficient. More than 450 men have graduated from the nonprofit – the only one of its kind in Northeast Ohio – since 2000.

Horne has more than 20 years of experience and leadership in Catholic ministry, serving in a variety of roles at Catholic Charities Corporation. Most recently, she served as the director of Catholic Charities in Lorain County, overseeing a staff of 30 with an annual budget of $1 million. Her key responsibilities included strategic planning, program development and implementation, fiscal oversight and fund development. In prior roles at Catholic Charities, she has also been responsible for risk management, quality improvement and management of intensive treatment center.

“Christine is a seasoned nonprofit leader and program expert,” said Kathy Heigle, Joseph’s Home board chair. “Her experience is essential as Joseph’s Home responds to a changing landscape, including shifts in government funding and changes impacting access to health care for the homeless men we serve. She will play a vital role in continuing to carry out our mission. ”

With federal public policy shifts, sources of government funding have placed more emphasis on reduced length of stay and successful exits to permanent housing. As a result, the emphasis on rapid re-housing has started to reduce available funding for transitional housing programs like Joseph’s Home.

“Joseph’s Home has every opportunity to adapt its service model in ways that continue to advance our important response to unmet needs of homeless men in Cleveland. I am honored and excited to be a part of it,” said Horne, who begins her new role November 30.

“This ministry is a vital part of the Sisters of Charity Health System as Joseph’s Home promotes the healing process and creates stability in the life of each resident,” said Terrence Kessler, president and CEO of the Sisters of Charity Health System. “We are pleased to welcome Christine and her many talents to Joseph’s Home.”

Horne received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in nonprofit administration and leadership from Cleveland State University. She is a licensed social worker (LSW).

Nathan Munn has served as interim executive director since July. He will resume his role as director of development for Joseph’s Home November 30.

“We’d like to thank Nathan for his interim service to Joseph’s Home, said Heigle. “He has engaged wholeheartedly in ministry at Joseph’s Home and has been working diligently over the past few months to maintain operations and services to the residents.”

About the Sisters of Charity Health System

The Sisters of Charity Health System was established in 1982 as the parent corporation for the sponsored ministries of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine in Ohio and South Carolina. The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine is a congregation of women religious that, since founding in 1851, continues a faith-based legacy of high-quality, compassionate care in partnership with its co-ministers, who are the heart and hands of the ministry.

The Sisters of Charity Health System solely owns four Catholic hospitals: St. Vincent Charity Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio; Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio; and Providence Hospital and Providence Orthopedic Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. The Sisters of Charity Health System also oversees three grantmaking foundations located in Cleveland, Ohio; Canton, Ohio; and Columbia, South Carolina. Each foundation sponsors significant community initiatives and collaborations that address causes and consequences of poverty. Outreach organizations within the Sisters of Charity Health System include Joseph’s Home, a unique residential care center for homeless men in Cleveland, Ohio; Early Childhood Resource Center for people working in childcare in all settings in Canton, Ohio; Healthy Learners, a health care resource for children from low-income families in South Carolina; and the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, a state-wide organization supporting initiatives to reengage fathers in the lives of their children. The Sisters of Charity Health System also provides residential elder care services at Regina Health Center in Richfield, Ohio, and Light of Hearts Villa in Bedford, Ohio.

For more information, visit sistersofcharityhealth.org.

MEDIA CONTACT
Rebecca L. Gallant
Director of Communications
Sisters of Charity Health System
2475 East 22nd Street, Cleveland, OH 44115
216-696-8408 (office) 216-288-0239 (cell)
[email protected]

Fall 2015 Newsletter

Fall 2015 Newsletter

A Life Transformed: Lost Hope Regained

One day in the summer of 2014, Mr. Hill woke up in a hospital bed. He was unable to speak clearly and couldn’t remember anything from the previous two weeks.
He soon learned that he had suffered a stroke and had diabetes.
The news came as a devastating blow. Four years of unemployment had left him destitute and homeless. At one point he was so ashamed of himself that he didn’t want his own children to see him. But, three weeks before the stroke, he had finally found a job and even received his first raise. Now that job – and the possibilities it created for him – were gone. “I was ready to give up,” said Mr. Hill.
After stays in different nursing homes, Mr. Hill came to Joseph’s Home. His mobility and speech improved to the point that he no longer needed a cane to get around and could speak with minimal slurring. With the help of Staff Nurse Sister Sandy LoPorto, SSJ-TOSF, he got his blood sugar under control and eliminated his dependence on insulin. He reconnected with his children and started making plans to be involved in their lives. Plus, he found an apartment of his own.

In June, nearly a year after his stroke, Mr. Hill moved into that apartment. Thanks to the many friends and supporters of Joseph’s Home, his health is greatly improved. And he knows that he will never have to call the streets home again.

Mr. Hill recovered from a stroke, stabilized his diabetes and reconnected with his children while at Joseph’s Home

Perseverance in Hope 2015 Celebrates Exceptional Leadership and Service

EVENT OVERVIEW

On June 26, more than 300 friends and supporters of Joseph’s Home gathered at Windows on the River in Cleveland for Perseverance in Hope: The 2015 Joseph’s Home Benefit Luncheon.

Emcee Kevin J. Kelley, Cleveland City Council president, welcomed the crowd and challenged guests to keep homelessness a priority issue for our community and nation. Former Cleveland Browns Head Coach Sam Rutigliano delivered an entertaining and inspirational keynote address.

Guests witnessed the unveiling of a plaque that honors the nine Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine known as “The Dream Team” for their work to spearhead the founding of Joseph’s Home 15 years ago. The plaque will be on permanent display at Joseph’s Home.

Sister Joan Gallagher, CSA, the founding executive director of Joseph’s Home, offered a moving tribute to Georgette Jackson, outgoing executive director. Nathan Munn, Joseph’s Home director of development, was introduced as the interim executive director.

Many thanks to the sponsors, donors and attendees whose support and participation helped make Perseverance in Hope a tremendous success for the acutely ill homeless residents of Joseph’s Home. Winning bids on the 30 silent auction items totaled more than $4,000. Overall, the event raised more than $42,000 to provide food, shelter, nursing care, social services and continuity of care services for the residents and alumni of Joseph’s Home.

Special thanks also to Sam Rutigliano and Kevin J. Kelley for their outstanding service and heartfelt remarks.

EVENT PHOTOS

Here are a few photos from the event. For more photos, visit the Perseverance in Hope 2015 album on our Facebook page.

Left to right: Joseph’s Home Board Chair Kathy Heigle, Emcee Kevin J. Kelley, Keynote Speaker Sam Rutigliano and Executive Director Georgette Jackson
Guests from St. John Medical Center
Guests from PNC Bank

GUEST COMMENTS

HealthTrust was very pleased to be represented at the Joseph’s Home luncheon.  We look forward to the event every year in support of the outstanding work done by the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine in the community.  It was especially nice seeing the recognition of the core group of Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine who initiated Joseph’s Home, what a legacy they have created.  I found Coach Rutigliano’s words of perseverance and faith very uplifting as well. – Barry J. Bumm, VP Sales, MidAmerica Region, HealthTrust

Margaret W. Wong is proud to support Joseph’s Home. We loved meeting the “dream team” who founded this institution at the luncheon. They are very inspirational people. – Michael Patterson, Margaret W. Wong & Associates

The atmosphere at Joseph’s Home Benefit Luncheon was welcoming and exciting.  Everyone was very friendly.  I was able to witness 3 great moments while I was there and I shared them with my family and community.  First, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine’s story was inspiring and hopeful.  It was their faith and service to God that led these humble women to reach out so many years ago.  The Dream Team were in our presence and they were given a standing ovation for their tenacity and maintaining the tradition of service.  Second, Sam Rutigliano was the keynote speaker.  I am not sure if I should say more.  I just remember my father and I watching the Browns on TV and how we cheered them on, seeing the coach at the time giving it his all.  He has a young spirited mind and way of thinking.  I was honored to be there and it definitely made me remember another great moment with my father, who is present with the Lord since October 2003.  Lastly, I was able to witness sincere love of people.  There were tears in the eyes of Georgette Jackson, Executive Director of Joseph’s Home, saying her final words serving in that role.  She was given her flowers while she yet lives – this is an old quote I would hear from my grandmother.  I know that my peers and colleagues were just as moved as I at this luncheon and it definitely changed my perspective of serving others. – Benita Smith, PNC Bank

I thought the luncheon this year was brilliant!  I really enjoyed the guest speaker Sam Rutigliano’s message.  Sam’s speech gave the audience an intimate view of his thoughts and inspiration.  I thought that Sam would speak about his career as a head coach with the Cleveland Browns, however, I was amazed to hear how God ordered his footsteps.  His first sentence set the tone and captivated the audience’s attention from the first minute that he spoke.  Throughout his talk he did make mention of his career but his message was clearly about his mission on earth and his service to God. His message inspired a call to action for everyone in attendance. I also enjoyed the remarks from the outgoing Executive Director Georgette Jackson as well as the remarks from Kathy Heigle. For me I had to reflect internally and make adjustments on my own community service. – Victoria L. Moore, PNC Bank

The Joseph’s Home luncheon was a wonderful celebration of the work of a ministry that does so much for the homeless community in Cleveland. The presence of so many participants from all walks of life is both proof of and a testament to the power of the mission. The highlight of the event was the recognition of residents of Joseph’s Home – both current and past. – Srinivas Merugu, MD, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio

Spring 2015 Newsletter

Spring 2015 Newsletter

Relationships Put a Human Face on Homelessness for Students

Hawken School Senior Hannah O’Day admits she had preconceptions about the homeless when she signed up for an elective class on homelessness.
Hawken School Students Monica Sass (left) and Hannah O’Day with Joseph’s Home Facilities and Operations Manager Edison Mosley, II at the Joseph’s Home Christmas party.

 

But when teacher Jack Breisch assigned her and classmate Monica Sass to spend a portion of their fall semester at Joseph’s Home, she was given a unique chance to get to know the issue
– and the people – up close and personal.

 

O’Day and Sass got to know Joseph’s Home residents over meals and spent time with them playing games, doing puzzles and socializing. They also created time capsule questionnaires for residents to complete at their arrival and again at their discharge.

 

What did they take away from their time with the residents of Joseph’s Home?

 

“Through this experience I learned the truth,” said O’Day. “They are normal people just like me.”

 

The highlight of their field experience at Joseph’s Home was the Christmas party as O’Day and Sass distributed gifts to current and former residents. It was also bittersweet because it was their final day and there were some sad goodbyes.

 

“I definitely made a few friends along the way,” said O’Day. “Joseph’s Home impacted me immensely and I know Monica and I would both love to spend more time there.”